I want to use this with powered external drives that only boot up when plugged into a USB port. Will a powered hub cause them to stay on constantly?
42402
I don't know the answer to this, because I haven't used it that way, but I believe it WILL power the drive and they would stay on constantly.
42403
Yes, a device like this would cause a powered external drive to stay on as long as the USB hub is powered.
42404
Hopefully I understand your question, to make sure, I'll answer it in 2 parts. 1. Yes, the drive will "stay on" in the sense that your computer will be able to "see" the drive at any time it is plugged into the hub, the same as if you plug the drive directly into the computers USB port . 2. No, the drive won't necessarily keep spinning continuously. Hard drives (including USB hard drives) will go into a resting mode if they are not being called upon to "do" something by the computer. After a period of time, usb hard drives will go into an inactivity mode to save power and wear and tear on the drive (so from that standpoint, no, it won't stay on "constantly" draining power. However, as soon as the computer "asks" them to do something, they will power back up pretty much instantly. Hopefully that answers your question well enough. Cheers!
377804
I use a powered usb hub. So I can plug many things into the hub and it has it's own power pack. Then I don't overload the onboard power from the pc.
556682
We are very sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue with the 10-Port Hub. Is the provided power adapter connected to the hub and are the power switches on the hub in the on position? Try connecting the three external hard drives to the first three ports on the hub (closest to the power source). Please email support@satechi.com for further assistance. Thank you, Satechi Technical Support
2229084
It should act just as any other powered USB hub. Just make sure you have proper power supplied.
594081
Experimentation tells me that the answer is NO. My experience with bus powered USB hubs has been problematic. Commonly you get a "power fault" on one or more of the devices involved and restoration is very difficult without rebooting (ugh).
1554251
I've been using mine with a USB hub since I got it and haven't had any problems at all.
2020842
One drive-likely no problem. You could try attaching 2 drives and might be fine, I am not sure. Again, to be safe, buy a "powered"hub.
1519018
I don't think this hub is built to deliver that kind of power. All my external USB hard drives are separately plugged into the A/C. At minimum, your drive would probably have to be plugged into multiple USB ports.
1581543
I have the same MacPro. I purchased the 4 port card and did not need to run the internal power when the hard drives (or other usb devices) were externally powered. I even ran a bus powered drive off of it. Then I read that for bus powered drives it was *recommended* to have the internal power, but I haven't found a good source for that cable (please let me know if you find one). In the end, if you are externally powering, then either will work.
1555909
I tried to plug in an external 320GB hard drive and it didn't work at all. The enclosure had its own power supply and I have plugged it into other USB Hubs before, but this one didn't even recognize it. don't know if it was defective or a limitation of the design, but I am returning it considering that I bought this Hub to swap multiple external hard drives and thumb drives. Hope this helps.
329623
I have never used it like that myself as my backup drives do not use the usb as a power source. I suppose you could use it that way as long as you use the hubs line power source. Most of the time I do not use the hub's power source as I use it as a conduit from my laptop's usb.
214037
Dear Annabelle, Unfortunately, our Premium 4 Port USB Hub is not powered, and will not power an external Superdrive (which is the case with most USB hubs) as they require over 500mA. The total amount of power going to the hub may not exceed 500mA. If you have any other questions or concerns please let us know. Thank you,Satechi Technical Support
368782
I tried hooking up a portable 2.5 2TB hard drive and it had trouble keeping it powered. However, when I attached a USB hub to the smart dock, I was able to plug the hard drive to the hub and it functioned without any problems.
2151263
If you're going to use a powered USB hub (for external hard drives for example) then be aware that power can back feed from the USB port and cause memory card corruption. A seven port USB hub is available from thepihut.com which has been designed to prevent this from happening.
259145
In general, I have found that the USB hubs that supply a wall-wart for power to the hub, do indeed NEED the power to the hub.Dick
560310
I believe some of Buffalo external drives have the auto-power-on/off feature. You can also use one of those smart power strips...
2248563
I know this isn't answering you question, but I don't know. I don't even use mine anymore because it wasn't so great. I recommend getting a Belkin USB hub.